· · · · · · ·
Allura was about to start prying the slashed door open when Krolia said, "Our wolf can teleport, leave it closed for safety."
"Really? So we can just teleport right to wherever Lotor is and take him in? Awesome," Hunk said. "Glad we can avoid a big robo fight. I mean, not that going all Voltron on stuff isn't cool sometimes but y'know, nobody even at risk dying is cooler."
"You could have mentioned teleportation before I busted my door," Allura said.
"We don't know where Lotor is though," Keith said. "And the wolf needs an idea of where to go. This castle is unfamiliar."
"So what are we calling the wolf?" Lance asked.
"Not now, Lance," Keith said.
"Right, we need to focus on arresting Lotor. Keith, Lance, follow me," Allura said. "Hunk, guard Pidge. Lotor knows she's our tech master and will expect her to work against whatever he did. We should presume Lotor has back up forces ready to aid him, who may board any time now."
"I'm on it," Hunk said. "Coran, you with me?"
"But princess, if this is truly an invasion, you should hide until the castle is ours again," Coran said. "Or at least go to the lions."
"Let's get to our lions and circle the castle, so if he tried to get off we'll catch him," Keith said.
"Shouldn't we get our hangar uninvaded first?" Lance said. "It's easier if we don't have to deal with Lotor's three freaky ships out there."
"This doesn't add up," Krolia said. "If Lotor meant to kill us, he would not have gone to the laboratory but have excused himself with ship maintenance. We may have a third party on the scene. Pidge—did I get that right?— can you find Lotor's exactly location?"
"No time, send it to us on the way," Keith said.
"Can't. Regular communication has been jammed," Pidge said. "There's a distortion field generated by the castle itself. I can't even find Lotor's location."
Allura held out her arm so her space mice could crawl on it. "They'll accompany you. I will hear whatever you say."
The four mice crawled onto the shoulders of the other four paladins. Keith and Lance switched their bayards into blasters, and Krolia took out her own.
They were ready to face Lotor. Allura wasn't, but that didn't matter in light of everything. Of her people, and their survival. In light of the universe, she and her concerns were small.
· · · · · · ·
At home people had been thought to fight in case of a Galra invasion, but it had never been more than a sport. This was no sport.
Romelle could barely see anything, let alone interpret their moves. Lotor had no weapon anymore, while Shiro had a glowy thing that kept changing shape and that purple arm. What kept Lotor afoot for so long was his agility and no doubt experience, he could block Shiro and dodge with expertise Shiro lacked; even her not that trained eye could tell.
Lotor was old enough to be that good, and she feared he might win even in this. She wanted him to lose, would've sped it along, but didn't dare to get involved in the fight; she wasn't even sure Shiro was actually on her side.
Or that of the paladins. The castle's walls melted and boiled every time Shiro touched it by accident. It was only a matter of time until —
Lotor screamed when Shiro's white hot hand flayed over his upper arm. The stench hit Romelle full force, and she stepped back.
For a moment Lotor fell back, but returned more furious when he tackled Shiro in the stomach. They fell back, untangled and ended up facing each other again.
Both furious, both exhausted, but in Shiro's case that meant he switch on what Romelle guessed was a ranged weapon.
"Move!" Lotor yelled, doing so himself.
Romelle didn't wait. She ran, heard the rising noise, and duck on instinct.
A searing hot ray melted through the floor, all the way up into the walls and ceiling.
All the way. Air rushed into the void.
Bleary, she looked back. Shiro had grazed more off of Lotor's arm; the gauntlet was a melted mess. Lotor himself looked more worn down that seemed possible; Romelle only knew him as the perfect pillar.
When Shiro came at Lotor, he lost footing in the draft. Right then, Lotor slammed his claws in the walls and set his other in Shiro's back plate. This way he hurled Shiro into the draft, grabbed Romelle's arm and ran down the hall.
Panic didn't get her anywhere when she didn't know whom to be scared of more.
They reached a half closed door. Lotor let go after they passed it, sinking both hands into the metal to close it. His injured arm strained against the pain. "Help out!"
Down the darkened hall, Shiro came running. The tiny spots of purple light stood out to her; none of the other humans had them, not even Shiro just before. More importantly, he was going to get Lotor off the ship, away from justice.
Romelle set her hands against the metal, her fingers denting into the metal. Lotor put all his force on his side of the door.
They shut it just as Shiro slammed into it. Using his claws, Lotor cut and twisted the metal around the lock.
As he backed off, the metal started heating. Romelle would have asked what was up with that arm, but Lotor was already dragging her down another hall.
They ran, very loudly, until they reach a hall with multiple doors. One of them had to be an exit for people, but he passed it up. At the end of the hall, he tore open a manuel control panel and did something with the wires.
Romelle peered back into the dark, her heart pounding.
Just what was going on? Why did Shiro act like that? The fond way Keith had spoken of his mentor didn't match up with anything she'd just seen of him.
Her attention snapped back to the present when all doors opened, then shut again. It repeated a few times, before he put a thin device back into his gauntlet.
"This will buy us some time, but it won't be long until he figure out it was a hardware trick. Get ready to run."
"Again?"
But they were already going, right through a door that open like the others and then shut. This time, it shut with a loud click, joined by similar sounds beyond it.
Barely had they stopped, or Lotor tore the sleeve off his arms, the melted one he tossed and the clean scrap he used to tie the injury. Romelle he ignored entirely now.
She'd imagined to see him dead within a day of arriving, or at least imprisoned. Fleeing with him didn't have a place in that! Why wasn't this anything like the visions she'd seen?
Once he was done, he asked, "Where did you last see Allura?"
"What do you need that girl for?"
"She is the Allura, daughter of Alfor and your princess. Do not speak of her as a mere child."
"Are you kidding me?" Romelle didn't even want to help herself now. "You were killing us for quintessence, defeated Zarkon without telling us, kept hiding us, and now I'm supposed to respect some long gone royalty? The one you didn't want to know about us?"
Lotor had exactly two expressions whenever she's seen him : proud smiling and stern staring, both weak. Now he looked pained and she hated it, because he was a monster and this was a mask and she didn't even know why he did it. Whatever it was.
A bigger fool might call it guilt.
"You don't know what you speak of." That still was the commanding voice she knew well.
"Maybe I would know more if you did any kind of speaking with substance. I would love to know why you murdered my brothers—"
"Your brothers may not be dead yet," Lotor said. "I will not deny many have died, but those—"
"I have seen the pods, you call that life?"
"Your princess might be able to revive them," he said.
"Why would I trust anything you say?"
He didn't answer that. In fact, he started completely ignoring her now. Romelle fumed inward, but was at loss of anything else to do. She didn't have directions, she didn't want to provoke Lotor into shooting her.
Why was he taking her along anyway? It couldn't be good, but what was she going to do about it? As part Galra, he was stronger than her, and he was a warrior.
Those paladins better start moving.
· · · · · · ·
Lance could kick himself in the head for ever having trusted Lotor. How could he have been so stupid, he had more reason than anyone to distrust him.
Allura led the way, always strong and enduring, Keith still obnoxious except with a mom and a teleporting wolf because of course he did.
Between himself and the other three, well, four if the wolf was counted, he was the only ordinary human. Hanging back for distant cover would be his best shot, so him being the best shot anyway was for the best.
That didn't make using the distraction of the wolf and the others to crawl out of a small maintenance hatch any better.
The others entered through the main gate, Allura with her whip already out and deflecting gunfire.
Keith and his wolf teleported into the blue haired pretty girl's cockpit and — why wasn't she taken out yet?
The heaviest of Lotor's generals came out, all too eager to challenge Allura. Lance tried to get a clear shot at her, but that ran the risk of hitting Allura. Getting someone to teleport his target away would be handy about now.
The red one with the ponytail, or whatever it was, moved closer to the cockpit of one of Lotor's ships, Krolia in pursuit but unable to get in the way. The entrance was open.
And of course Keith was still having a passionate duel on top of the ship with the blue haired girl. As in, not using his wolf right now.
The wolf was just randomly teleporting over the battlefield, sometimes helping, but really having no clue what to do with all this.
When the wolf sparkled into being nearby Lance, he whispered, "Hey, you, fluffy, get me into the red one's cockpit."
The wolf just tilted its head curiously.
It was so tempting to shout a quiznak or two at Keith, but he kept quiet.
Lance peeked from under the craft, to see whether Keith had his act together already.
Nope, still dueling. They'd even started talking to her now. Keith, being talkative? Was this because he liked her? Was this flirting?
Seriously, Lotor knew how to pick his crew to fit, what with the weird ass half Galra attraction thing. Even Keith was falling for the enigmatic mixed Galra charms, despite being one himself.
Speaking of that, where was Lotor anyway?
Lance rolled from below the craft and off the platform, before quietly passing to the other end of the hall. Without sight, his best shot was listening.
Allura was fight the big one, Krolia had the smaller red one.
No Lotor around them. None at either the big entrance or the smaller service hatch either.
"Lotor's not here!" Lance called.
Keith's wolf finally got to teleporting, just to bring Keith down. Before Lance could wonder why, laserfire scorched the nearby wall and came down to his toes.
One of Lotor's ships rose up, aiming at them.
"Wolf, get Keith into the cockpit of that thing!" Lance snapped.
The last lights went off, and the wolf whined.
"Can't, he needs line of sight," Keith said.
Lotor's ships sure didn't need light to use their scanners though, cause the fire kept coming.
"Retreat!" Allura called.
Gladly. Lance ran after the others back down the maintenance hatch, into the pitch black of the ship.
· · · · · · ·
This wasn't getting them anywhere. Allura focused on Chulatt, hoping Pidge would get things running soon.
The spectra generator, stabilizers and main turbine all went down. The Crystal matrix, the particle barrier were hot on that trail, and Pidge's quarantine failed.
"What? How? The virus has countermeasures that specifically targeted my quarantine! It's like it knew," Pidge muttered.
"It's going to get worse," Allura said. The teludav's mess regulator is shutting down, and this ship and everything in the neighboring subsystem will be destroyed."
"What the quiznak?" Lance said. "He's crazy, he'll blow himself up if this goes on!"
"I am ready to discuss a third party any time now. In fact, let's make it now," Krolia said. "At the Kral Zera, those three were with Haggar. Princess Allura, I must express my concerns for your presence. You should be near the escape pods."
"No. This is my responsibility."
"I assure you all the people who will die if the coalition loses its leader will not care. Should anything take you out of commission, it is not merely the weapon that loses a pilot. You are irreplaceable as the head of the coalition and pilot of this warship, wormholes included."
"Don't forget the alchemy thing," Lance said. "You're the only one who could create a new Voltron."
"You can create ... " Krolia started. "Can you remote control the lions? If that were possible, you could steer them to the hangar entrance and give us a hand."
For a time, the lion could move independently. Why not, actually? She hadn't tried before, but it should be possible. Maybe even like herself with her mice.
The knowledge didn't just come to her though, the way she expected it to be. "I will try."
"Can we go now?" Keith said. "Shiro's out there alone."
· · · · · · ·
When Shiro arrived, the hangar lay still. He shut his entrance using the virus code and lit up his arm. The Sincline ships lay still in place, until the hatches opened each.
"Hey there!" Ezor, he knew now.
"You don't have Lotor?" Zethrid said. "Where is he?"
"He escaped," Shiro said. "What happened here?"
"The paladins came here, but we drove them off and your program locked the door. Want us to deal with them?"
"No, get the ships ready and ward them off if they enter," Shiro said. "One of you comes with me to pretend to work for Lotor, should we come across the paladins. I'll feign alliance with them to help secure Lotor."
Axca leaped off her claimed ship.
"Anything else, Haggar?" Ezor asked.
"No," he said, or she did, and he couldn't fight it.
· · · · · · ·
Allura sat in the dark alone, trying to reach for the lions. Though their lifeforce was clear in her mind, their voices were not. That they had such distinct voices hadn't even occurred to her; she'd engaged with them before as inspirational rather than fellow beings.
Chulatt still peered over Pidge's shoulder, so the moment Pidge froze in shock, Allura paid attention.
"It's Shiro," Pidge whispered.
None of her mice had hearing problems, but now she had to wonder. Shiro would never betray them.
"What? How do you know?" Hunk asked.
"The protocol's countermeasure, it was like the code I scanned from Shiro's arm while we were looking for Galra installations."
Shiro? That wasn't possible, Shiro would never—
Shiro had disappeared from Black's cockpit and returned escaping from a Galra laboratory. Or had he?
She could know, if she wanted to. The potential lay in her, instinctive knowledge raised now she needed it, the ability to touch souls.
Forget hanging back. There was only one person aboard the ship with the power of Oriande, if she willed it and had the potential, she could find out what was happening.
· · · · · · ·
His wolf found the scent of Shiro soon enough; smart beast remembered him before before.
Shiro ran through the halls, checking doors at almost random until he spotted Keith and the others.
"What happened?" Keith asked.
"Romelle slipped out. I followed her to persuade her not to do anything rash. She wouldn't listen," Shiro said. "When we came across Lotor, he took her hostage. I just barely got away."
Plachu jumped off Keith's shoulder, sniffing the air before running off. It must've caught Lotor's scent on Shiro, or maybe it followed Romelle.
Shiro briefly looked at Keith's wolf but didn't ask. He followed the mouse, and Keith followed him.
The mice led them nearer to the laboratory. Lotor had to be going for the samples he'd brought aboard.
Shiro led, and Keith followed easily. Despite the turmoil, it was a relief to be back as his right hand.
They rounded a corner, and there Lotor was by the laboratory door. Romelle stood far from him, unrestrained but not running; perhaps too afraid.
Lotor had tied up one of his arms and the scent of scorched flesh was thick in the air. Shiro could heat up his hand enough to melt metal, but to think he'd used it on someone alive made Keith pause.
Lotor's ear twitched, and he turned towards them.
A thick silence fell, before he said, "Paladins, I have no intention to attack. Hear me out."
Keith forced his bayard into a blade. "Lance, cover us."
Krolia's hand descended on his shoulder, stepping before Keith.
"Surrender, and there will be no fight," she called down the hall.
"I'm afraid that will not be possible," Lotor said. "You have been compromised. Now you must understand cannot just lose its emperor without there being consequences. Stand back and tell Allura to look at Shiro."
"We're not standing back for anyone!" Keith snapped. "Least of all you. We've seen what you've done to the Alteans, why would we trust you?"
Krolia pushed him back further.
"It is true there will be a great problem if you vanish now, emperor Lotor," Krolia said. "But surely you can imagine we are equally fearful of what may happen if you were to say, dispose of Voltron now you do not need them anymore? Surrender, and we will work from there."
"What are you doing?" Lance said. "He's just trying to trick us into letting our guard down again!"
Keith considered defying his mother, but didn't need to. Shiro pushed past them all and aimed his bayard — a blaster now — at Lotor.
Lotor dodged, during which Shiro closed the distance impressively fast. Keith barely kept up.
Taking advantage of Lotor's injured side, Shiro came at him so he could grab Lotor's wrist when he swung to block. Keith grabbed his other arm and Krolia knocked him to his knees.
Lance tossed shackles to Keith, who quickly clicked them around Lotor's wrists. That done, Shiro pulled him back to his feet.
Lotor faced Keith. "You're making a mistake, red paladin. This is not—"
"Shut up," Shiro said harsher than Keith had ever heard him.
"Hey Romelle, you can relax now," Lance said somewhere behind him. "We got it all under control."
"Don't listen to him, he wanted Lotor to escape!"
"He threatened to kill her people remotely if she did not back him," Shiro said calmly.
"We'll send the Blade of Marmora into the quantum abyss right away," Keith said. "And Lotor back to his cell."
Lotor said nothing, only glared in that cold way. Shiro took him by the arm and started leading him along.
Right then, Allura's mice started freaking out; Plachu even jumped on Keith's shoulder and signed for him to move.
"Come on, we better escort Lotor," Keith said. Lance and Krolia fell in line, but Keith's wolf didn't.
Weirdly enough, the wolf stared at Plachu, then the other mice, then slowly looked up at Shiro and Lotor. The wolf's ears flattened.
"Keith, open the door," Shiro said, nodding at the gate behind them. It'd lead them too close to the hangar and Lotor's generals were still on the loose.
"Isn't there a quicker way to the cell?" Krolia asked.
"That way got damaged in the fight when I overcharged my arm," he said calmly.
"That's what the ray was?" Lance said. "You gotta let Hunk look at that, you nearly blew up the ship."
"I will, just open the door."
Lance brushed past them and slammed him hand on the control panel. When that didn't work, he shot it.
Shiro pulled Lotor along, and Keith was about to join when Allura's voice rang out, "Stop!"
· · · · · · ·
Shaking his entourage would've been a problem for Shiro, but doable. Allura was a far bigger threat.
Both Allura and Lotor froze when they saw each other, but tension was not just between them. Allura's gaze shifted to Shiro, softer now but just as weary.
"Someone else hold Lotor. Shiro, I need to check something."
His friend and commander. An obstacle. The commands were set.
Krolia and Hunk moved to hold to Lotor, and Allura's hand raised towards him.
She knew what the princess meant to do, and it wasn't allowed to happen.
Slice her up? No, she stood in the hangar's direction.
His bayard turned into a blade and he hurled it at her. She dodged, rolled over and tackled him. Lotor fell away.
In the turmoil he lost track of everything. Shouting and walls surrounded him, and the rising urgency of her commands.
When he found his bearing, he saw Krolia lead Lotor down the wrong hall, while Lance wanted Keith to send his wolf.
Allura grabbed him by the collar, hauling him up while her free hand came to his head. Keith held his other arm, said something he couldn't hear through his ringing ears.
He kicked Allura in the stomach, threw Keith aside and ran at his target. Krolia turned on her axis, but her fault lay in not letting Lotor go. He set his arm to burning heat and melted the gun. She dodged his first blow, but he got her arm and just held, letting the heat get into her flesh. She staggered back.
Lotor let himself fall back, creating just enough space to kick him away. When buckled forward. Lotor swiping his fists up from below, hitting him from the chin up.
His head snapped back so hard, he blacked out for a second. She pulled him back and forced his body in shape. He rolled onto his side, back up, so fast Lotor couldn't re-calibrate.
Shiro grabbed his leg and slammed him injured arm first against the wall. Ugh, he was still awake, so he grabbed his head and rammed it against the ground. It knocked him out at last, but bending down wasn't the best idea : from behind, something wrapped around his own leg.
Next moment he sailed through the hall, catching a glimpse of Allura and her whip.
When he landed, he scrambled right back to his feet. A memory surfaced; she had thrown him before. Then she'd looked upon him with a sad smile, now betrayal was all over her.
It almost mattered, but not enough. She wanted Lotor, and now the princess stood between Shiro and his target. Altea's wayward daughter.
Who still had her whip around his leg.
The very second he moved toward Lotor, she swung him further down the hall.
Landing on his mechanic arm, he was right back on his feet.
Lance fired a warning shot at his feet, and Krolia ignored her broken arm to aim her blaster.
"Shiro! What are you doing?" Keith was the only one whose weapon was still down.
The betrayal in their eyes pulled at him, but he had a mission and they got in the way. She provided him all the hatred he needed.
"Hurry up!" Ezor called from down the hall. "Uh, Lotor? We gotta leave."
The one benefit was that right now, he didn't face the hangar anymore. He powered up his arm, ready to slice down whomever got in his way. Lotor lay knocked out on the ground and—
Next to Lotor, out of thin air appeared the wolf, with Plachu between the ears. The mouse saluted before tapping the wolf's head, and they vanished with Lotor.
What.
This didn't just happen.
Why did the wolf teleport.
Lotor was nowhere to be seen, who knew where on the ship that beast had taken him. How long it'd take to find him again.
And Allura was coming at him once more.
The risks wasn't his own to calculate, all he had to do was obey. Right now, they could not have the trans reality ships too. Lotor would come to get them eventually. He let himself hate what had to be left behind, it was easier not to fight anymore, and turned away.
· · · · · · ·
Shiro ... got away with the ships. It wasn't the first time an adventure had unfolded without clear victory, or even the first time they'd lost Shiro, but this was something else. Shiro dying was terrible, but Shiro having come back like this ... he didn't know how to feel about it.
All they had to show for today was a functional gate and an unconscious emperor.
Amidst the chaos, the lights turning back on were just a quiet afterthought even though it meant Pidge had saved the entire castle and every bit of their lives. Lance would've thanked her, but Hunk probably had that covered, and Allura, who'd run off to the control room too.
Keith and Krolia went to find the wolf and Lotor, because Keith hadn't actually taught that fetch meant one had to return the target to the commander. Lance would've loved to give him a hard time about that, if not for what had just gone down with Shiro.
He followed Keith and Krolia until they found the wolf and Lotor in a random storage room.
Krolia checked up on Lotor's vitals, determined he was alive but the injury needed treatment, and so Lance contacted Pidge through his helmet; communication was online again too.
While they waited for someone to retrieve, Keith started pacing. Guessing why was easy.
It started to sink in there really had been something wrong with Shiro.
It started to sink in he could have done something about it.
The fifth wheel at least didn't get in the way, usually, but this ...
Keith kept pacing. His mother stood by, arms crossed not unlike Keith, but she was calm where Keith brimmed with energy.
"We need to go after them already, let someone else guard Lotor. What's Allura thinking, keeping us here?" Keith said.
"We need to keep calm and not rush into anything," Krolia said.
"They must have blackmailed Shiro somehow, and they might try it with us. Whatever they have over him must be important."
And more pacing until Lance couldn't stand it anymore. Usually that meant snapping at Keith, but now it was about Shiro.
"I don't think that was him," Lance said softly.
Keith's eyes snapped to him, and Lance almost regretted saying it.
"What do you mean?"
"When we were on the astral plane, Shiro tried to tell me something, but failed," Lance said. "So I asked him about it once we got back and he didn't remember. But he said he didn't feel like himself ... I brushed it off."
Before Keith got a word in, Krolia stepped up.
"I will make a report later and run it by the Marmorian library to see whether we have any similar cases in the past. If you could type down as much as you remember, that would be very helpful."
"Sure, I bet I'll have time soon." It wasn't like he had any important tasks aside of being a pilot of Voltron, and once they got Shiro back — he refused to consider the alternatives — there'd be no shortage of those.
Keith had started pacing near the door, but at one point stopped to stare down the hall.
"Keith, don't," Lance said. "Allura said we'd make plans together, later."
"That might be too late for Shiro."
"No, you are not pulling the disappearing stunt again!" Lance snapped, but it was Krolia was quick enough to block the exit.
"You don't even know where to go," she said. "This ship was tracking methods, an Altean alchemist, and a scientific genius. You don't even have a few weeks of experience with spy work. The resources we need are here. Understood?"
Keith clenched his fists, but kept his mouth.
Lance couldn't resist. "You can use the meantime to train your wolf better. Really, you were out there two years and he still can't play fetch right?"
"At least I wasn't cozying up to Lotor!"
"What? That—what the—Don't change the topic!"
Krolia once again came between them, and Keith slunk off to brood against a wall with his arms crossed.
"Don't worry about that," Krolia said. "I'm sure you know how much Shiro means to him."
"Are you kidding? I've been putting up with Keith aplenty, I can deal with his moods." Lance pulled the rest of his bravado back in place and added, "Let's just fix this. I'm sure Allura can track him somehow, she's got a lot of fancy new magic since Oriande."
"Oriande?" Krolia asked. "What is that?"
"Oh, some magical mumbo jumbo that she learned," Lance said. "Lotor tried the same thing but got rejected."
"Hmm. Do you consider everything supernatural mumbo jumbo?"
Lance shrugged. "Depends. Why?"
"Oh, no particular reason," Krolia lied. "I think I hear a pod drifting this way, let's clear the room."
· · · · · · ·
The first thing Lotor noticed upon waking was the moving floor below him, the bands around his wrists and the hold on his armor's collar. He didn't panic, feigned still to be unconscious.
The shadow of a floating pod crossed his line of sight, a hand on his arm, and he was raised. The moment he could get his feet below himself, he kicked free. Rolling back, he returned to his feet and glared around.
Opposite him wasn't the witch or anything Galra, but the paladins of Voltron.
Allura had been about to load him into a pod, but now she'd taken her whip bayard out.
It felt so long ago that Allura had looked at him with this much distrust.
"I only did so to defeat Zarkon. A few thousand lives to save millions," he said, dragging up the most important words from the muck of his quintessence muddled mind. Or maybe that was just the headache from the fight.
"So it is true."
They hadn't been sure before? He could have weedled himself out of this if he'd just waited. There wasn't time, soon the empire would notice his absence, he'd given them an estimation of his return. He needed to make the best of this.
"Allura, I know this must all come across in the worst ways, but our goals remain the same. We want peace for the universe."
She would have argued at once, he was sure, had she not been so tired.
Allura lowered her bayard. "If that is true, then you will stand down until we know exactly what to expect of you."
He eyed the pod. It was one of the sick bay. He wasn't likely to end up in a torture rack or experimental facility, and if he wanted to be of any use he did need his arm healed. But this also gave them ample opportunity to drug him. Perhaps he could talk himself out of this, convince her yet they both benefited from their continued alliance.
"Let me have my dignity and walk there," he said. She did want to hear, and surely she understood time was imperative.
"Don't do it, it's a trap," Lance said.
"What trap would I lay like this? I have no back up, no weapons, and I am injured."
Allura raised the pod so the head end floated upward. "Step in."
"Allura, please hear me out first," he said, hating how his voice lost composure but hating more that she didn't budge. "It's true that—"
"Get. In. The. Pod." She walked around and he turned along, until he stood between her and the pod. "Now."
"What happened to the gate? Is it still whole?"
"Yes." Hand on his chestplate, she pushed him back until he was in the pod. "Once you're healed, we're going to talk about how to do the same for my people still on your moon facility."
· · · · · · ·